Albert Sidney Johnston

Albert Sidney Johnston (2 February 1803-6 April 1862) was a General of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War who served as commander of the Army of Mississippi from 29 March to 6 April 1862 before being killed at the Battle of Shiloh.

Biography
Albert Sidney Johnston was born in Washington, Kentucky on 2 February 1803, and he went to Transylvania University with Jefferson Davis. Johnston graduated from West Point in 1826, 8th in a class of 41 students, and he served in the 1832 Black Hawk War before serving as Secretary of War of the Republic of Texas from 1838 to 1840 after fighting in the Texas Revolution. Johnston bought the China Grove plantation in Texas, and he would later serve in the US Army during the Mexican-American War, rising to the rank of Major in 1849. In 1857, he was promoted to Brigadier-General after crushing the Mormons in Utah, and he commanded the Department of the Pacific in late 1860 and early 1861. Johnston opposed the secession of the Confederate States of America, but he joined the Confederate States Army at the start of the American Civil War. Johnston was given command of the Western Theater on 10 September 1861, and he was defeated at Mill Springs in January 1862, lost Forts Henry and Donelson in February, and engaged in a decisive battle with Union general Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Shiloh on 6 April 1862. Johnston took a bullet to the right knee, severing an artery, and he died of his wounds that same day; he was the highest-ranking casualty of the Civil War.